As a millennial who grew up with technology, it's no surprise that I'm an active user of AI — it's part of my weekly, sometimes daily, routine.
As a reporter, I often use tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini for a variety of tasks, including drafting social media posts, brainstorming SEO-friendly headlines, summarizing webinar and conference notes, and creating interview questions. Does this mean that every question I pose in an interview or every headline I write is created by a bot? No, it doesn't.
While I may seek inputs and suggestions from AI tools, the final decision is always mine. After all, why would I forego a tool that streamlines my workload and makes me more productive? It simply makes my life easier. Of course, if I want to know the names of British royal dynasties in order, I don't search an encyclopedia, I search Google.
But while I personally don't mind admitting that we use AI, it's not something that anyone wants to shout about. I don't know about you guys, but I think it's pretty weird.
We've all seen the familiar disclaimer: “Sorry, don't criticize me, I used ChatGPT to put this together.” But why should we criticize anyone? Would we blame someone for using the internet to gather information? I don't think so. Just as the internet has become an essential tool in our professional lives, AI is rapidly evolving into the foundation of modern workflows across industries.
Yes, you need to be careful and conscious of the types of tools you use and for what purposes, and it's great that your company has an AI policy in place, but you shouldn't be hesitant about it — if you are, maybe you shouldn't be using AI in the first place.
In investor relations, AI will definitely be a hot topic in 2024. A survey conducted for IR Playbook: Artificial Intelligence and Investor Relations found that over 47% of investor relations professionals are regularly or experimentally using AI for some of their IR-related tasks. Use cases range from generating slides, images and graphics; drafting earnings presentations; identifying themes; analyst analysis; summarizing; peer monitoring; and note-taking.
But in the midst of this AI revolution, which continues to demonstrate just how far-reaching and transformative AI applications in IR are, one question arises: Are IR professionals willing to publicly acknowledge that they are using AI for IR-related tasks?
At our most recent IR Magazine Forum – AI for IR event, we asked attendees the same question in a survey: Initially, the survey results were relatively evenly split, with a slightly higher percentage of negative responses.
Interestingly, however, when the same question was discussed by panelists in one of the sessions, and several of them said they had no problem admitting to using AI in their daily work, the number of positive responses to the survey started to grow. In the end, almost 70% of the attendees in the room said they would publicly admit to using AI. It was as if some people needed a boost in confidence.
The discussion highlighted a variety of perspectives, but there were some commonalities: Some recognized the role of AI in workflows as a valuable input, but emphasized that AI should remain an input. This perspective offered a balanced approach to integrating AI while maintaining human oversight and accountability.
Others reiterated that transparency is one of the pillars of IR and called on their peers to think about what they are using AI for. They said that while there is absolutely no need to disclose whether you are using an AI-powered tool such as Grammarly to check the punctuation of your press releases, disclosing your use of AI is paramount in scenarios where data validation may be compromised.
Finally, one attendee stated that he had no problem admitting to using AI in verbal communications with colleagues, but would not admit to using AI in documents, because, in his opinion, the IRO is solely responsible for oversight of the documents and the final deliverable, so it doesn’t matter whether AI or the internet was used at any stage in creating that deliverable.
I am all for leaving the stigma behind and embracing the power: without a doubt, responsible use of AI is a new professional strength in IR, and as the saying goes these days, we must either adapt or be left behind.
